Chapter 154: Monstrous Sword Intent, Chen Chu Gets Stuck
Chapter 154: Monstrous Sword Intent, Chen Chu Gets Stuck
The first to arrive was Pang Long, who had just broken through the Seventh Realm and had been wandering around the school for half a day. When he saw the powerful aura emanating from Chen Chu, he couldn't help but look surprised.
At the same time, Lin Xiong's figure also appeared at the edge of the woods. He looked at Chen Chu standing next to the collapsed wall and couldn't help but mutter, "...Fourth Heavenly Realm."
A smile appeared on Pang Long's face, and he casually nodded. "Yes, Fourth Heavenly Realm. Not bad. It only took him about half a year to break through since he had enrolled."
As Liu Feixu glided down, she couldn't help but sarcastically say, "Pang Long, there's no need for pretense here. We all know that your student was the first to break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm. And is it necessary to wander around the school like a fly and annoy everyone just because you broke through to the Seventh ahead of us?"
Faced with Liu Feixu's sarcasm, Pang Long just smiled and didn't say anything.
By now, several more cultivation teachers had also appeared, and their gazes towards Chen Chu were filled with surprise.
One middle-aged man spoke in a deep voice, "His true power's aura after his breakthrough is domineering and heavy, with a faint pressure of dragon-like creatures. He's cultivating the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body!"
"Yes, the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body." Pang Long nodded.
At this moment, Chen Chu slowly opened his eyes and politely greeted the cultivation teachers one by one. "Mr. Pang, Ms. Liu, Mr. Lin..."
Most of these teachers he knew, except for the two who had been the team leaders for the students who had gone to Kurutoor City in Kyrola.
Pang Long suddenly said, "Chen Chu, since you've just broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, I have something to discuss with you. Come with me to my office."
"... Yes sir." Chen Chu nodded.
A teacher named Fei Zhong couldn't help but speak up. "Pang Long, why the hurry? We won't ask him about his true martial attributes."
"It's best that you don't. Alright, time to go, time to go."
After breaking through to the Seventh Heavenly Realm, Pang Long was high-spirited. He waved away even high-level cultivators like Lin Xiong, who simply smiled and nodded to Chen Chu before leaving.
Chen Chu's mind shifted towards activating his secret art, gradually suppressing his domineering aura, then followed along after Pang Long and Liu Feixu.
Surprisingly, there hadn't been a single word about the broken wall. Normally, Chen Chu would have to pay for the damages. But as a super genius who had just broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm within half a year, the fastest one among his batch, everyone had chosen to ignore it.
That was also why Chen Chu didn't bother with trying to suppress his aura immediately after his breakthrough. In the beginning, before he had built his foundation, he had felt insecure about his progress deep down, and his humbleness and attempts to keep a low profile had been defense mechanisms against that.
However, now that he had broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, with combat power in the Fifth, he no longer had to tread so cautiously in his every action.
In the office, Pang Long gave Liu Feixu a confused look when she stepped in. "Hey beautiful, why are you here?"
Liu Feixu crossed her arms and said confidently. "It's to see the show, of course. Plus, I'm half a teacher to Chen Chu, much more so than you."
What Liu Feixu said wasn't wrong. During the trial in Kyrola, Pang Long had stayed in Leisteru for only a few days. After he had left, Liu Feixu had been the one who had guided Chen Chu in his cultivation. She had also been the one to aid Chen Chu in his exchange for a high-level art, filling in all of the needed details.
Ahem!
Pang Long coughed at Liu Feixu's words, then turned to look at Chen Chu, expressing some emotion as he spoke. "Your sudden breakthrough to the Fourth Heavenly Realm has shocked everyone. But it's also good this way. You've broken through even before An Fuqing. I should be able to get the trial rewards I had applied for you soon."
"Rewards? Didn't I already receive a secret art?" Chen Chu was a bit surprised, although he had heard some rumors earlier.
Pang Long said, "I've said before that the purpose of establishing martial arts high schools is to cultivate geniuses, so more resources are tilted towards those with outstanding talent. However, this kind of resource tilt is divided into stages because the concept of talent is too vague. Even the strongest cannot foresee a person's future.
"This is also the reason for the school ranking competitions and the various trials. Gold will always shine, but someone needs to polish it.
"In the Kyrola trial, your breakthrough speed, the degree of your power increase, and your achievements were all in the top fifty. So I applied for additional resources for you.
"This is one of our responsibilities as teachers. For example, Miss Liu also applied for resources worth 100 contribution points for Lin Yu in her class. I also applied for Lin Xue, Xia Youhui, and others.
"These resources will be distributed at the beginning of school tomorrow. But..."
Before Pang Long could finish, Liu Feixu said with some annoyance, "But he's too greedy, so he got denied because the higher-ups noticed how much he applied for."
"...Sir, what did you apply for me?" Chen Chu asked curiously.
Pang Long looked a bit embarrassed. "It's not much. I submitted two proposals: one was to reward you with the Sumeru Bracelet, and the other was for a training package worth over 400 contribution points.
"The training package included resources to accelerate your breakthrough to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, as well as transcendent materials for refining your weapons. I just didn't expect you to break through so quickly..."
After their return, Pang Long had asked Chen Chu approximately how long it would take to break through. When Chen Chu had estimated that it would take him about two months, Pang Long had calculated the time and submitted an additional resource package application.
By the time school started, these resources would have been approved, which would have helped Chen Chu break through more quickly and immediately refine his transcendent weapon after the breakthrough.
As soon as Pang Long finished speaking, Chen Chu couldn't help but be surprised. "So much."
The Sumeru Bracelet alone cost 500 contribution points and required high-level permissions, to say nothing of the training package worth over 400 points.
Even if it was a slightly inferior training package, it was worth almost as much as he had earned from the recent purge mission.
Liu Feixu shook her head. "That's why it didn't get approved."
"Is it really too much?" Pang Long was somewhat dissatisfied. "Then why did Lin Xiong's application for An Fuqing and Zhang Ze's application for Li Hao get approved? They submitted similar amounts."
"It's different," Liu Feixu said indifferently. "In addition to her cultivation talent, An Fuqing also showed outstanding comprehension during the trial. She had even cultivated sword will at the Third Heavenly Realm, which makes her truly exceptional.
"Li Hao is similar. His innate divine power combined with high-level martial arts is a perfect match. His performance in this trial was also remarkable, with him completing his first physical transformation.
"As for Chen Chu, although he cultivated the Dragon Elephant Art to the point of manifesting True Martial Spirit, while scoring a kill one realm above his own, the problem also lies here.
"The Dragon Elephant Art is just a low-level art, so he had yet to show the same understanding and compatibility with high-level arts. Therefore, his potential assessment ended up slightly lower than An Fuqing and the others.
"But that's no longer an issue now." Liu Feixu looked at Chen Chu with a smile. "You broke through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm in less than half a month after switching to the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body. This speed exceeded everyone's expectations, including mine. No one can doubt your potential anymore. Now, you should consider whether to choose the Sumeru Bracelet or the training resources."
"I can?" Chen Chu was somewhat tempted.
Pang Long nodded. "Yes, but now that you've broken through to the Fourth Realm, I suggest choosing the Sumeru Bracelet.
"The mutated beast battlefield is different from the previous trials. The situation there is more complex, and you could potentially find yourself trapped in a sticky situation for one or two months. At such times, you can use the Sumeru Bracelet's storage space to carry more food and other resources, which will let you hold out longer and be more likely to survive.
"In addition, the Sumeru Bracelet is connected to your true power. When you store your weapons in it, you can temper them while cultivating at the same time."
"Then I'll choose the Sumeru Bracelet." Even if Pang Long hadn't recommended it, Chen Chu had been planning to choose the Bracelet. Most of the resources in the training package would have been of little use to him, except for the Life Crystals.
Pang Long then reminded him, "Now that you're in the Fourth Heavenly Realm, you'll need to start thinking about refining transcendent weapons. These are very important for high-level cultivators. Even the most ordinary transcendent weapon can enhance your combat power by ten percent."
"In addition, when you go to the mutated beast battlefield later, try to refine a set of transcendent armor for an extra layer of protection if you have enough resources. For you, advancing in cultivation is only a matter of time, but you can only do so if you survive.
"In recent years, I've seen many geniuses, some of whom were no less monstrous than you and An Fuqing. Each one had taken the cultivation scene by storm. But in the end, many of them died in accidents or battles due to unexpected situations or overestimating their own strength. Such a shame."
Chen Chu felt grateful for Pang Long's reminders. Then, somewhat embarrassed, he said, "...Um, sir, I didn't redeem the Weapon Forging secret art."
"You didn't? Didn't you have a free opportunity?" Pang Long was surprised.
He had even reminded Chen Chu when they had gotten back from Kyrola to redeem the art as soon as possible, so that he would be able to forge his transcendent weapons immediately after breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm.
Chen Chu said sheepishly, "At that time, I was more interested in another art that conceals aura, and I didn't think I would break through so quickly, so I didn't choose the Weapon Forging art."
Liu Feixu interjected, "That's easy. Old Pang, just add the Weapon Forging secret art to the application for the Sumeru Bracelet. I don't think they'll deny it again over something like that."
After thinking about it, Pang Long nodded. "Alright, with Chen Chu breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm in just one semester and being the first in his year to do so, that's enough of a justification."
Hearing this, Chen Chu's face showed gratitude. In actuality, however, he had intentionally mentioned his choice of secret art. Now that he had the identity of a monstrous genius, and since they were rewarding him anyway, he wasn't going to pass up this opportunity to avoid wasting contribution points on a useless art.
Pang Long then continued to remind Chen Chu about things he should be careful about, such as not revealing his true martial attribute to others.
The true martial attribute was involved in the creation of True Martial Phantoms and Battle Bodies after the Seventh Heavenly Realm, as well as Domains in the Ninth. If enemies got a hold of detailed information about his attribute, it would expose his weaknesses and leave him vulnerable.
While many powerhouses could analyze the characteristics of others' true power to get a basic idea of their attribute, the issue was that attributes in general weren't that simple. Fire-based true power alone had dozens of variations; nailing down an opponent's specific attribute through simple analysis was pretty much an impossible task, which was why it was so important to guard that information.
At the end, Pang Long sighed. "Speaking of which, this might be the last time I chat with you about these things."
"Mr Pang, are you leaving?" Chen Chu was surprised.
Pang Long nodded. "Yes, I've already talked to Old Lin. In a few days, we'll head to the frontline of the battlefield together. Finally, I can escape the boring days at school."
As he said this, Pang Long couldn't help but reveal a sense of pride, then comforted Chen Chu.
"No need to be sad, Little Chen. The schools in East Xia are different from the sects in North Lin. We teachers are just guides on your path of cultivation, and are only able to watch over you in the early stages.
"Now that you've broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, there's actually nothing more we can teach you. At most, some insights into cultivation. In the future, how far you can go will depend entirely on you."
"Yeah, I understand, sir." Chen Chu nodded. Despite what Pang Long thought, he wasn't really sad so much as simply surprised at the news. He was certainly grateful for Pang Long's guidance and his help with securing these resources, but it didn't really run any deeper than that.
Walking out of the teacher's office building, Chen Chu looked up at the sun in the sky, realizing it was about two in the afternoon and remembering that he hadn't had lunch yet. As he walked toward the cafeteria, Chen Chu's eyes revealed a pensive expression.
He still had 101 contribution points left. This amount wasn't enough to exchange for another portion of the high-quality dragon essence, which was worth 300 points.
Perhaps he should exchange for the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd instead? The Sword Armored Fiery Beast had two level 4 Life Crystals in its possession, which Chen Chu estimated would likely convert to over a hundred attribute points, just enough to enhance the combat art and the new weapon.
As for the transcendent weapon, however... he didn't have the materials. He would have to wait until he went to the mutated beast battlefield to consider it.
Now that he had broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, Chen Chu realized that he was even poorer now.
The fifth stage of the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body required more dragon essence and attribute points, his weapons and armor required transcendent materials, not to mention the enhancement of the combat and secret arts...
Thinking about all of this was starting to give Chen Chu a headache.
Of course, he could simply rely on his own resources and cultivate at a slower pace. After all, the ones who had created these arts had also broken through gradually through steady cultivation.
But after getting used to the feeling of such rapid advancement, Chen Chu wasn't willing to spend two or three years to break through to the Fifth Heavenly Realm. Not when he could reach the Ninth in the same amount of time.
This estimate was based on the improvement in his talent as his physique continuously evolved. If he had started with an average talent, it might have taken ten years instead, and after breaking through to the Fourth Realm, many people would be stuck for eight or even ten years.
But with his current combat power equivalent to the Fifth Heavenly Realm, as long as he was careful, there shouldn't be a problem on the mutated beast battlefield.
As a transmigrator, Chen Chu also felt a sense of pride. Learning that the application for resources for him had almost been denied because of his talent not being considered good enough had been somewhat displeasing
So what if An Fuqing and Li Hao had monstrous talents? Could they compare to his monstrous attributes and avatar enhancement?
As Chen Chu arrived at the cafeteria to have his lunch, the news of his breakthrough to the Fourth Heavenly Realm quickly spread through the school's official website, causing heated discussions. Or rather, scorching discussions.